~~ Sweetness Trip Report *NEW* - Prep for the Party

As you know I love to cook and chop and it was such a joy to prepare for my Soon Come Back party at the Westender. I had a super sweet helper thank goodness or I would never have pulled it off. Keith the manager got me 25 lbs of cleaned Lion Fish from Whitehall and I added some parrot and snappa that I got from a fishman walking down the road (lol) and also some chicken to jerk. Made rum punch with some sliced fruit in it (making sure to test it carefully to be sure the mix was right lol). Some of the crew stopped in to help taste test and I gave them a bokkle to share during the day.....again its odd but beautiful that its no big deal to drink on the job in JA (depending on your job of course but still....). They enjoyed their day and were a big help to me getting tables seaside and coal for the grill, etc.

I made up a giant bowl of pickled escovitch veg (onion, garlic, carrot, sweet peppa and scotch bonnet) for the fish. Mr. added butter and stuffed all the fish with it and made foil packets to steam/roast on the grill. It was DIVINE. WARNING - wear gloves if you have a lot of peppas to chop. I mini-sliced almost a pound of peppa and that night my fingers were on FIYAH - felt like third degree burns for real. It took 12 hrs with my hand in a bowl of ice before it stopped - I was careful not to touch anything (lol) but LESSON LEARNED - ouch!!!! There were so pretty though (ha!).

Posting some photos in two parts - also on the menu was Pasta Salad (with veg and cheese), roasted breadfruit, tomato cucumber salad, garlic bread, cheddar biscuits, watermelon, almond banana bread and pineapple coconut cake.......mmmmmmmmmmm It was all delicious but I had to make plates for me and my sweets and HIDE them - when I rang the dinner bell it was a stampede (lol).

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Wonderful Sweetness...food and punch looks delicious and I sure wish we were there for your cooking!

Darn good girl....and thanks for the warning on the peppas...ouch :(

Ouch is right! So glad you didn't rub your eyes. Food looks yummy.

25lb....what was that price, if you don't mind? Look really good! And when I arrive, I would like to buy about half that amount.

xlent - its was very reasonable. $170JD per lb. so for 12 lbs it would be $24US so around $2 per lb.
I think Keith gets an amazing deal because his family is from Whitehall. But you can talk to the fisherman downtown or across from Mi Yard on West End to agree on a deal for fish. Nothing like fresh fish - nothing left but the skeleton afterwards!!!

Everyting sounds great! Except for the burnin fingers. We use gloves now whenever choppin da hot peppers.

oy j/j wish I would have thought about it. Never happened with just a few here and there and I washed/scrubbed them good but WOWZA brought the tears out.....FIYAH and not in a good way lol

ouch!! food and drinks lookin good tho!! nuff nice ~

Ouch for your hands! I cleaned and thinly sliced up a pound of ginger for sorrel ~ my hands felt a bit zingy and swollen the rest of that day...